In order to operate a computer effectively, a user must master a number of commands and data formats. One usually accomplishes this by spending hours reading printed user documentation and/or by using trial and error techniques.
Computer-aided help system have been developed to provide on-line assistance to computer users. In response to a request by a user, those systems display help information on the display screen of the computer. Simple help systems always start with the same display, regardless of the circumstances, and the user must enter specific information to find help for his or her particular situation. More advanced help systems display context-sensitive help. Context-sensitive help systems determine what particular part of an application program the user is in. Then help information is displayed that is relevant to this user location.
While such context-sensitive help systems represent an advancement over simple help systems, they have numerous limitations. Such systems are usually tightly coupled to an application program; they must rely on the application program to keep track of and store the context. Further, since these systems are limited to displaying help information based upon program location, they will always return the same help information for a given location regardless of how the user got there. While such systems provide the convenience of on-line help, the help information they provide is nothing more than a user's manual correlated with a given program screen or function. As a result, these help systems tend to be of limited utility to the user who cannot specifically identify the problem or who has "lost his way."